Fire lighter



A. J. COUTU FIRE LIGHTER Uriginal Filed Aug. 14. 1931 ...-ecgg@ Patented Nov. 2l, 1933 PATENT OFFICE l FIRE LIGHTER Alfred Joachim Coutu, Detroit, Mich.

Application August 14, 1931, serial No. 557,114

1 Renewed September 14, 1933 This invention relates to re lighters and one object of the invention is to provide a device of this character by means of which a. re may be started in a. furnace or other stove without the necessity of using paper and kindling wood.

Another object ci the invention is to provide e device oi this character .consisting of pipes through which ges or an equivalent fuel may be fed to burners or nozzles carried by certain oi.

I the pipes which serve es burner pipes and flame directed into the iire pot of e. stove in direct engegernent with coed resting upon the grote and thereby ceusethe cosi to be quickly ignited. It 'will thus be seen tiret kindling is not necessory eind the trouble oi having iiindling wood burn out before coni hes become properly ignited is eliminoted Another object oi' the invention is to so torni the rire lighter that si burner or burners may be Y engaged through the droit opening et the bottom stove into the dre pot.

Another object of the invention is to provide .o fue lighter which indy be very easily moved into eind out oi operetive relation to s. stove end when not in use may be folded into e cornpzct mess so es not to be in the wey while nt the seine time be always in such. o position thnt it indy be eusily reached or use.

Another object oi the invention is to provide dre lighter formed of pipe sections connected by suite-ble couplings whereby the ports may be easily assembled end very cheaply manufactured.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanylng drawing wherein: i

Figure 1 is e, perspective View showing o furi nece equipped with the improved lighter,

:l is o slightly med form of fire lighten The improved hre lighter is adopted for use in connection with e. furnace such as sho in Fig. 1 end indiceted in general by the numeral i but it will be understood that this merely represente one type oi hector with which the dre lighter may be used.

The furnace has the usuel re pot y2 having a, drsi't opening 3 end an ash pit 4. The usuel i clean out opening e is provided for 'the ssh pit below the draft opening 3 and a grate 6 of e. conventional construction is mounted in the fur-n nace between the fire pot and ash pit. The doors 'l and 8 for the draft opening 3 und clean out opening 5 are opened when the lire lighter is 60 in use as shown in Fig. 1.

The fire lighter preferably burns illuminating gas, although any type of liquid or `gaseous fuel may be used and the pipe 9 extends from a suitable source of supply. A velve lo is provided in order thet the iiow of fuel to the lighter muy be controlled and to this vulve is attached e universel coupling il by ineens oi which e, feed pipe 12 is mounted for swinging movement in either o. horizontal or vertical direction.

Lit its other end the feed pipe is connected with o universal coupling 13 cerrying on elbow le to which is etteched the rear endet z burner pipe l5 oi sucient length to extend through the clean out opening 5 into the ash pit and terminate et approximately the center of the zsh pit.

At its iront or free end the burner pipe carries en elbow 16 which extends upwardly und uponn this elbow is screwed eJ burner or nozzle 1'? which is preferably Y-shuped to .tormerms 17 which diverge upwardly.

lnteredizte its length the burner pipe cer= ries u T-coupling 18 into the upstending erin of which is screwed o, brunch pipe 19 carrying at its upper end en elbow 20 which projects forwardly and carries e, nozzle 21. This nozzle is similer in construction to the nozzle or burner 17 und. has diverging erms 21' which project :forwardly in o horizontel plone. It will thus be seen that dame from the nozzles 17 and 2l will be emitted from these nozzles et right angles to euch other, and the flame from the nozzle 17 may poss up= wardly through the grote at approximately the center of o i'lre pot While dome from the nozzle zi will extend horizontally into the nre pot obove the grote. The foot that the nozzle 2l. is located above the burner pipe 15 and projects forwardly permits this nozzle to be engaged through the droit opening 3 and 'to rest on the bottom woll thereof to support the burner pipe in its operative loo position. By hoving the feed pipe connected with the supply pipe und the burner pipe by universal couplings, the ieed pipe and the burner pipe moy be very easily moved into and out of position to dispose the burner pipe in theash pit.

When the dre lighter is not in use, the feed pipe end burner pipe moy be moved away from thev furnace to withdrew the burners and then swung upwardly to en elevated position es indicated by dotted unes m rig. i where they will ne out of 110 the way but easy to reach when use of the lighter is again necessary. The dotted lines only represent one position to which the lighter may be moved when not in use.

The fire lighter shown in Figure 4 is slightly different in its construction from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In the form shown in this figure, the burner pipe 15 is provided with a coupling 22 having opposed side arms 23 in place of a T- coupling. Branch pipes 24 extend from the coupling 22 in a horizontal plane at opposite sides of the burner pipe and are connected by elbows 25 to short pipes 26 which extend upwardly a distance corresponding to the length of the branch pipe 19 and at their upper ends carry elbows 27 which project forwardly and carry burners 28 which correspond to the burner or nozzle 21.

These nozzles or burners 28 are disposed in such spaced relation to each other that both may be engaged through the draft opening of a furnace. It will thus be seen that four jets of flame will be applied to the coal at the front of the fire box instead of two and that since two burners or nozzles are engaged through the draft opening the fire lighter will be very rmly supported and the burner pipe 15 and nozzle 1'? prevented from slipping out of a desired position in the ash pit.

' What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a furnace including an ash pit, re grate, and draft opening above said fire grate, of a fire lighter comprising a fuel supply pipe, a feed pipe connected therewith and extending within the ash pit below the re grate, a branch pipe connected with and extending upwardly from the feed pipe and projecting ,within the draft opening, and burners carried by the feed pipe and branch pipe respectively for directing jets of flame within the furnace simultaneously above and below the fire grate and at substantially right angles to each other, the burner of the branch pipe resting on the bottom wall of the draft opening and serving to support both burners in operative position within the furnace.

2. The combination with a furnace including an ash pit, fire grate, and draft opening above said ilre grate, of a fire lighter comprising an upright fuel supply pipe,` a horizontal feed pipe connected therewith and extending within the from the lower-burner, said upper burner by engagement with the wall of the ,draft opening serving to support both burners in operative position Within the furnace.

ALFRED JOACHIM COUTU. 

